Trump claims Americans say ‘under God’ and ‘merry Christmas’ more since he won

President Donald Trump is marking the National Day of Prayer with faith leaders in the White House Rose Garden amid a firestorm over payments to a porn actress. (May 3)AP

President Trump expanded on a favorite theme during Thursday’s National Day of Prayer address, saying that Americans have begun not only to use the holiday greeting “merry Christmas” more since he moved into the White House, but that they have started to say “under God” more as well.

He continued: “And we say it here. You know, a lot of people, they don’t say it. But you know what? They’re starting to say it more. Just like we’re starting to say, ‘Merry Christmas’ when that day comes around. You notice the big difference between now and two or three years ago?”

Trump also mentioned the phrase “under God” during his 2017 and 2018 National Prayer Breakfast addresses, but did not mention a decline in the use of the term.

The words “under God” were not originally in the pledge of allegiance, but Congress added them in 1954 in the spirit of drawing a distinction between the U.S. and the religiously intolerant communist bloc countries.